Lake of Lucerne. On the E. the Alpine chain continues to stretch uninterruptedly along the horizon, and includes the preeminent peaks of the Dödi, on the borders of the Grisons, of the Glärnisch, in canton Glarus, and of the Sentis, in Appenzell. In the middle distance, above the lake of Lauertz, lies the town of Schwytz, the cradle of Swiss freedom, backed by the two singular sharp peaks called, from their shape, the Mitres (Mythen). Above them peers the snowy peak of the Glärnisch; and to the rt. of them is the opening of the Muotta Thal, famous for the bloody conflicts between Suwarrow and Massena, where armies manœuvred and fought on spots which before the shepherd and chamois hunter scarcely dared to tread. Farther to the 1. rises the mass of the Rossberg, the nearest mountain neighbour of the Rigi. The whole scene of desolation caused by its fall (see p. 43.); the chasm on the top, whence the ruin came; the course of the terrific avalanche of stones, diverging and spreading in their descent; the lake of Lowertz, partly filled up by it, and the pools and puddles caused in the valley by the stoppage of the watercourses; are at once displayed in a bird's-eye view. The very distant snowy peak seen above the top of the Rossberg is the Sentis. The Spectre of the Rigi is an atmospheric phenomenon not unfrequently observed on the tops of high mountains. It occurs when the cloudy vapours happen to rise perpendicularly from the valley beneath the mountain, on the side opposite to the sun, without enveloping the summit of the Rigi itself. Under these circumstances the shadows of the Rigi Culm and of any persons standing on the top are cast upon the wall of mist, in greatly magnified proportions. The shadow is encircled by a halo, assuming the prismatic colours of the rain 53 bow, and this sometimes doubled, when the mist is thick. Two melancholy accidents have occurred on the top of the Rigi: in 1820 a guide, who had attended an English family, was struck dead by lightning as he stood watching the clouds; in 1826, a Prussian officer, who had reached the summit, accompanied by his wife and children, fell from a very dangerous seat which he had selected on the brow of a precipice (the only spot where the summit is really a precipice), and was dashed to pieces at the bottom. According to another account, the miserable man threw himself off, having previously announced his intention of committing suicide to his wife, who summoned the guide to arrest him, but, after a severe struggle her husband got loose, and effected his "That sacred lake, withdrawn among the hills, Its depth of waters flanked as with a wall That in the desert sowed the seeds of life, Land where Tell leaped ashore - and climb to drink Of the three hallowed fountains? He that The length of the lake between Lucerne and Fluellen is about 7 stunden = 25 Eng. miles. 54 Route 18. Lake of Lucerne A Steamer plies between Lucerne | Uri as to prevent the progress of any and Fluellen, performing its daily course from 1st May to 30th Oct., as follows:- From Lucerne to Fluellen, at 8 o'clock each morning, from Fluellen to Lucerne, at 2 o'clock each afternoon. The passage to Fluellen and back the same day costs 6 Fr. f. 16 sous, and takes 3 hours; by a row or sailing boat, 6 were required. It touches at Allstadt, Weggis, Buochs, Gersau, Brunnen, Fluellen, and, on certain days, Stanzstadt. Boats may be hired at all the ports on the lake, but are little used since the steamer was launched. The charges are fixed by tariff, which may be seen at the inns. In hiring a boat to Fluellen, the employer should stipulate to be landed at Gersau, Grütli, and the Tellenplatte, at his discretion, in order that he may visit these spots by the way. Much has been said of the dangers of the lake of Lucerne, arising from storms; that it is subject to sudden and tempestuous winds admits of no doubt; but the boatmen can always foresee the approach of a storm, and are very careful not to subject themselves to any risk. The clumsy flatbottomed boats, indeed, have an unsafe look, and, in windy weather, heave and roll about immoderately; yet instances of accidents are hardly known either the boatmen will not stir out in bad weather, or put into shore on the slightest appearance of danger. Those who trust themselves on the lake should implicitly follow the advice of the boatmen, and not urge them to venture when disinclined. The winds on the lake are singularly capricious and variable, blowing at the same time from opposite quarters of the compass in different parts of it, so that the boatmen say that there is a new wind behind every promontory. The most violent is the south wind, or Föhn, which often rushes so furiously down the bay of row-boat, and renders it doubtful whether even a steamer will be able to face it. During fine weather, in summer, the north wind blows along the bay of Uri from ten to three or four, after which it dies away, and is succeeded by the Föhn, blowing from the S. The boatmen, in coming from Lucerne, endeavour to reach Fluellen before the wind turns. The only resource, when a storm arises, is to run before the wind. The Lake of Lucerne, or of the Four Forest Cantons (Vier-Waldstädter-See), so called from the cantons of Uri, Unterwalden, Schwytz, and Lucerne, which exclusively form its shores, is distinguished above every lake in Switzerland, and perhaps in Europe, by the beauty and sublime grandeur of its scenery. It is hardly less interesting from the historical recollections connected with it. Its shores are a classic région the sanctuary of liberty; on them took place those memorable events which gave freedom to Switzerland - here the first Confederacy was formed; and, above all, its borders were the scene of the heroic deeds and signal vengeance of WILLIAM TELL, on which account they are sometimes called Tell's Country. Its The lake lies at a height of 1406 ft. above the sea-level: it is of very irregular shape, assuming, near its W. extremity, the form of a cross. various bays, branching in different directions, are each named after the chief town or village situated on them: thus the W. branch is properly the lake of Lucerne; then come the bays of Alpnach on the S., Küssnacht on the N., Buochs, stretching E. and W.; and lastly, the bay of Uri, running N. and S., entirely enclosed within the mountains Route 18. Lake of Lucerne. 55 genhorn, close off which lies a small island, the only one in the lake. A Frenchman, the Abbé Reynal, took upon himself to raise upon it a monument to the founder of Swiss liberty it consisted of a wooden obelisk, painted to look like granite, with Tell's apple and arrow on the top! This gingerbread memorial of vanity and bad taste was luckily destroyed by lightning. Thus far the shores of the lake are undulating hills, clothed with verdure, and dotted with houses and villas -a smiling scene, to which the dark ridge of Pilatus adds a solitary feature of grandeur. After doubling the cape of the Meggenhorn, the bay of Küssnacht opens out on the l., that of Alpnach on the rt., and the traveller finds himself in the centre of the cross or transept (so to call it) of the lake. From this point Mount Pilate is seen to great advantage-clouds and darkness almost invariably rest upon his head, and his serrated ridge and gloomy sides have a sullen air in the midst of the sunny and cheerful landscape around. The superstitions connected with this mountain are mentioned at p. 41. It is the weatherglass of the boatmen and shepherds, and, according to the common saying, (Wann Pilatus trägt sein Hut Dann wird das Wetter gut) it is a bad sign when Pilate is free from cloud, or doffs his hat in the morning; but when the clouds rest steadily on his forehead till late in the afternoon, fair weather may be expected. Looking up the bay of Küssnacht the ruined castle of Neu Habsburg is seen on the 1. perched on a cliff; and, at the further extremity of the village of Küssnacht, a fort belonging to the counts of that name. The colossal mass of the Rigi occupies the other side of the bay. Its sides are girt with forests, below which runs a fringe of fields and gardens, dotted with cottages; while, above, it is clothed to its very summit with ver dant pastures, feeding a hundred flocks; an agreeable contrast to his neighbour Pilate. After weathering the promontory of Tanzenburg a spur or buttress descending from the Rigi, the village of Weggis appears in sight: it is the usual port of disembarkation for those who ascend the Rigi from the water (see p. 50. ), and may be reached in about an hour from Lucerne. The high precipices opposite Weggis belong to canton Unterwalden, but the narrow ledge of meadow at their base is in canton Lucerne. - Two rocky headlands projecting from the Rigi on one side, and the Bürgenburg on the other significantly called the Noses (Nasen) now appear to close up the lake; but as the boat advances, a narrow strait, not more than 1 mile wide, is disclosed between them. Once through these narrows, and the noses seem to have overlapped each other, and the traveller enters, as it were, a new lake shut out by high mountains from that which he has traversed before. This oval basin is called the Gulf of Buochs, from the little village at the bottom of the bay on its S. shore, behind which rise two grand mountains, the Buochser and StanzerHorn. On the opposite shore, at the foot of the Rigi, nestles the little village Gersau (Inn: Sonne, small, but clean) which, with the small strip of cultivated and meadow land behind it, formed, for four centuries, an independent state, undoubtedly the smallest in civilized Europe. Its entire territory consists of a slope leaning against the side of the mountain, produced probably by the earth and rubbish washed down from above, by two mountain-torrents breaking out of ravines behind it. The whole extent of land cannot measure more than three miles by two, which would make a very small parish in England; scarcely an acre of it is level ground, but it is covered with orchards, and supports a po pulation of 1348 souls, dwelling in 174 houses, 82 of which form the village. It is recorded that the people of Gersau bought their freedom from a state of villenage in 1390, with a sum of 690 lbs. of pfennings, scraped together after 10 years' of hard toil, to satisfy the Lords of Moos, citizens of Lucerne, whose serfs they had previously been. They maintained their independence apart from any other canton, and governed by a landamman and council, chosen from among themselves, until the French occupied Switzerland in 1798, since which they have been united with the canton Schwytz. Though Gersau possessed a criminal jurisdiction of its own, together with a gallows still left standing, no instance of a capital execution occurred during the whole of its existence as a separate state. There is something very pleasing in the aspect of Gersau on the margin of its quiet cove, shrouded in orchards and shut out from the rest of the world by the precipice of the Rigi; for although there is a path hence to Brunnen, and another to the top of the mountain, they are difficult and little used. Its pic turesque, broad-brimmed cottages are scattered among the fields and chesnut woods nearly to the summit of the slopes; some perched on sloping lawns, so steep that they seem likely to slip into the lake. As Gersau may be reached by a rowboat in 2 hours from Lucerne. soon as it is left behind, the singular bare peaks of the Mythen (Mitres) start up into view, -at their foot the town of Schwytz is built, and in front of them stands the village of Brunnen (Inn: Goldener Adler; best, not very good) the port of the canton Schwytz, built at the mouth of the river Muota. Its position in reference to the surrounding scenery is one of the most fortunate on the lake, commanding a view along two of its finest Gersau. reaches. Brunnen. It is the depôt for goods going to and from Italy, over the Saint Gotthard. The warehouse, called Sust, bears on its outer walls a rude painting of the three Confederates, to commemorate the first alliance which was formed on this spot between the Forest Cantons in 1315, after the battle of Morgarten. Aloys Reding here raised the standard of revolt against the French in 1798. Those who intend to ascend the Rigi from this, usually take a char to Goldau (charge 60 batz); for pedestrians there is a shorter footpath from Lowertz. It takes five hours to reach the top (see p. 48.). Saddlehorses may be hired here. Boats swarm upon the shore: the charges are somewhat exorbitant. A large boat to convey a carriage to Fluellen costs 100 batz (= 14f. Fr.) - a smaller one, 9f. Fr. The steamer now touches here twice a-day. At Opposite Brunnen, the lake of the Four Cantons changes at once its direction and its character. Along the bay of Uri, or of Fluellen as it is sometimes called, it stretches nearly N. and S. Its borders are perpendicular, and almost uninterrupted precipices; the basements and buttresses of colossal mountains, higher than any of those which overlook the other branches of the lake; and their snowy summits peer down from above the clouds, or through the gullies in their sides, upon the dark gulf below. the point of the promontory, opposite Brunnen, stands a small inn, called Treib, with a little haven in front, in which boats often take shelter. When the violence of the Föhn wind renders the navigation of the lake to Fluellen impracticable, travellers sometimes take a footpath from Treib over the mountains by Selisberg, Bauen, Isenthal, and Seedorf. There is a similar and equally difficult path from Schwytz by Morsebach, Sisikon, Tellenrüth, to Altorf, which nevertheless traversed by the French General, Lecourbe, with his army, in was pursuit of Suwarrow, in the night, by torch-light, in 1799. The want of boats to transport his forces across the lake compelled him to this daring exploit. On turning the corner of the promontory of Treib, a singular rock, called Wytenstein, rising like an obelisk out of the water, is passed, and the bay of Uri, in all its stupendous grandeur, bursts into view. "It is upon this that the superiority of the lake of Lucerne to all other lakes, or, as far as I know, scenes upon earth, depends. The vast mountains rising on every side and closing at the end, with their rich clothing of wood, the sweet soft spots of verdant pasture scattered at their feet, and sometimes on their breast, and the expanse of water, unbroken by islands, and almost undisturbed by any signs of living men, make an impression which it would be foolish to attempt to convey by words. "The only memorials which would not disgrace such a scene are those of past ages, renowned for heroism and virtue, and no part of the world is more full of such venerable ones.' Mackintosh. 57 from the oppression of their Austrian governors. They here" swore to be faithful to each other, but to do no wrong to the Count of Habsburg, and not to maltreat his governors." "These poor mountaineers, in the 14th century, furnish, perhaps, the only example of insurgents, who, at the moment of revolt, bind themselves as sacredly to be just and merciful to their oppressors as to be faithful to each other." The scheme thus concerted was carried into execution on the following New-year's day; and such was the origin of the Swiss Confederation. According to popular belief, which everywhere in Switzerland connects political events with notions of religion, the oath of the Grütli was followed by a miracle, and 3 springs gushed forth from the spot upon which the 3 confederates had stood. In token of this every stranger is conducted to a little hut built over the 3 sources of pure water, and is invited to drink out of them to the memory of the 3 founders of Swiss freedom. It is doubtful whether the 3 sources are not merely 1 split into 3; but few would search to detect "the pious fraud." The view from Grütli is delightful. A small scar may be observed from hence on the face of the opposite precipice of the Frohnalpstock, formed by the fall of a piece of rock. "The fragment which has left such a trifling blemish was about 1200 feet wide; when it fell it raised such a wave on the lake as overwhelmed 5 houses of the village of Sissigen, distant 1 mile, and 11 of its inhabitants were drowned. The swell was felt at Lucerne, more than 20 miles off.”. Simond. After passing the Wytenstein about a mile, the precipices recede a little, leaving a small ledge, formed by earth fallen from above, and sloping down to the water's edge. A few walnut and chesnut trees have here taken root, and the small space of level ground is occupied by a meadow conspicuous among the surrounding woods from the brightness of its verdure. This is Grütli, or Rütli, the spot pointed out by tradition as the rendezvous of the 3 founders of Swiss freedom, Werner Stauffacher, of Steinen, in Schwytz; Erni (Arnold) an der Halden, of Melchthal, in Un- The immediate shores of the bay terwalden; and Walter Fürst, of At- of Uri are utterly pathless, since, for tinghausen, in Uri. These "honest the most part, its sides are precipices, conspirators" met in secret in the descending vertically into the water, dead of night, on this secluded spot, without an inch of foreground beat the end of the year 1307, to form tween. Here and there a small the plan for liberating their country sloping ledge intervenes, as at Grütli, |